DAVAO DEL NORTE STATE COLLEGE

Institute of Teacher Education

COLLEGE
Roselyn F. Muyco

BSED ENG 3B

ENG 324

EMERGENCY

By Denis Johnson

1. Who are the characters in the story; Emergency by Denis Johnson? Describe
the characters in full sentences (no limit in sentences).

• Fuckhead – the narrator of the story and he was a clerk. He worked the
night shift at the hospital with his friend named Georgie. He is taking
drugs that he got from Georgie that causes him to get high. I think
Fuckhead has a lot of doubts about himself, which is why he is hesitant
to do anything, but at least at the end he realizes and experiences the
beauty of the morning.

• Georgie – the orderly one. The pretty good friend of Fuckhead. He is the
one who stole pills from the cabinet, and his job is to save lives, as he
said. Both Fuckhead and Georgie are high due to the drugs. I think he is
a janitor because from the first part it was stated there that he is holding
a mop and cleaning the floor.

• Terrence Weber – (a patient) the guy who has a prosthesis eye (can't
see) and his other eye has a knife (can still see) that was stabbed by his
wife while he was asleep.

• Hardee – both Hardee and Fuckhead met each other last summer, and
he was found by Georgie at the door.
 DAVAO DEL NORTE STATE COLLEGE
Institute of Teacher Education
COLLEGE
• Intercom – he stated that, “The Lord, is my shepherd.” He is always
praying because he is in a Catholic Hospital.

• Nurse – the one who hated family service. Her happy tone could only
mean something beyond his competence and potentially humiliating.

• Doctor – the one who gathered three people around him. He shockingly
asked Georgie if he took the knife out of Terrence Weber’s eye.

2. Categorize the flat and round characters in the story (in bullet form).

FLAT CHARACTERS ROUND CHARACTERS

Nurse Fuckhead (Narrator)
Doctor Georgie
Intercom Terrence Weber
Hardee

3. Describe the relationship that the narrator and Georgie have (no limit in
sentences).

➢ Both Georgie and the narrator are good friends. They are the ones who can
understand each other due to the fact that they are drug addicts; they're taking
the same pills that Georgie stole. They're taking drugs to escape the reality that
they're in. According to the narrator, "And therefore I looked down into the great
pity of a person’s life on this earth. I don’t mean that we all end up dead; that’s
not a great pity. I mean that he couldn’t tell me what he was dreaming, and I
couldn’t tell him what was real." They are both suffering from something, and I
could say that they don't have trust in themselves because they are doubting
what they can do. They have so many questions in mind, and maybe that is the
reason why they drugged themselves—to find answers to those questions and
problems.
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Institute of Teacher Education
COLLEGE
4. What does Georgie really want in life?

➢ “What do you do for a job?” and Georgie said, “I save Lives”. Georgie is not a
doctor, but indeed he saved a person's life, and I could say he did a good job
for that. You don't have to be a doctor to save lives; sometimes you just have
to be present in someone's life and make them feel that you are there. Georgie
wants to be free. He wants to do the things he wants in life and because of the
drugs that he's taking, he can imagine and say what he wants.

5. What does the narrator really want in life?

➢ Just like Georgie, I think he also wants to be free. He wants to go to the places
he wants to go, and he wants to escape from work. Both of them are looking
for their best lives, and for now, drugs are the answer. They are making
themselves high so that they can see themselves as the people they want to
be. Actually, I am not so sure about this one.